


Elsa's Introduction to Romance Novels

by SmugLemon



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Awkward Romance, Coming Out, Exploring One's Sexuality, F/F, F/M, Lesbian Elsa (Disney), Masturbation, Post-Frozen (2013), Pre-Frozen 2 (2019), Self-Discovery, supportive family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:28:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29212686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmugLemon/pseuds/SmugLemon
Summary: Elsa isn't ready for romance-- that much is obvious. With a bustling kingdom to run, a loving sister to reconnect with, and years of general socialization to catch up on, she just doesn't feel prepared to tackle potential suitors. But maybe, just maybe, she can start figuring out what she likes in the meantime.
Relationships: Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 23





	Elsa's Introduction to Romance Novels

**Author's Note:**

> This is a just fun little character study of Elsa's love life with a mature theme. Kind of a catch-all for different headcanons I have about her (and some for Anna/Kristoff as well).  
> Fair warning for some discussion of Anna and Elsa's father's poor decisions. Nothing actually explicit occurs in this chapter, it's only mentioned.

“Knock knock,” Elsa said, smiling as she stepped into Anna’s open doorway. Her younger sister was busy yanking her bed frame across the floor, and she paused in her effort to give Elsa a smile as she wiped some sweat from her brow.

“Come in! Though, you may not want to-- it’s kind of a mess in here right now.”

“I don’t mind,” Elsa said truthfully. She glanced around at the chaos-- the throw rugs were sloppily rolled up and shoved to one side, the chairs were bunched together haphazardly, the bed linens were balled in the corner.

“What exactly are you doing?” Elsa asked as Anna started to tug the bed again, this time from the bottom.

“Every once in a while,” she said, grunting as she strained to move the heavy wooden frame. “I get in the mood to rearrange things.” Finally she got it where she wanted it. She stepped back and nodded, satisfied that it was even with the wall. Then she let out an overheated sigh, pulling at the loose blouse she was wearing to circulate some air against her skin.

“Spring cleaning in August?” Elsa teased. She lifted her hand, flicked her fingers, and created a cool mist that fell gently over her sister.

“That’s divine,” she said gratefully, basking in the icy air. “Thank you.”

“Any time,” she said. “Where’s Kristoff? I know you’re the kind of princess who doesn’t mind hard work, but he could have helped you move that with ease.”

“And have him in my bedroom?” Anna asked, leaning against one of the canopy posts. “Why, Elsa, I’m surprised at you, suggesting such a scandalous thing,” she joked.

Elsa smiled, amused.

“The door is wide open, Anna. I see no reason why he can’t be in here.”

Anna played with one of her braids, almost a little guiltily.

“The reason is that it gets way too tempting to close the door,” she mumbled. It’s not like he  _ hadn’t _ been in her room with the door closed before, he just definitely wasn’t supposed to. Nor was she supposed to be disappearing with him into his room. Or the stables. Or private ‘picnics’ beyond the village limits in the back of his wagon without a chaperone.

“Well… I wouldn’t say anything about it,” Elsa replied breezily. Anna’s eyebrows raised and she met Elsa’s gaze.

“You-- you wouldn’t?”

“No. I don’t want you to feel like you have to keep sneaking around me, Anna. That seems unnecessarily stressful— for both of us.”

“Heh.” Anna gave her a sheepish grin. “I guess I’m not exactly subtle, am I?”

“No. But you’re incredibly mature, and I know you make good choices” Elsa replied honestly. She clasped her hands together nervously. “I have been meaning to broach the subject, it’s just, well, I don’t have any words of wisdom for you like most sisters would. And, if you did have any questions for me, I… I feel like I can’t really help…”

“It’s alright,” Anna reassured her, waving off her worries. “Mama covered everything years ago. Believe me, I asked enough questions for the both of us.”

Elsa laughed, picturing it as easily as admiring a view from a window: a young teenage Anna rattling off dozens of uncomfortable inquiries, and her mother patiently answering each and every one of them like the saint she was. Elsa’s heart squeezed, pain stinging her for a brief moment of regret that she’d never gotten to talk to her mother in that way, never got to properly express feelings that she’d barely even allowed herself to explore. But thankfully Anna had been close enough to Mama to share those sorts of talks.

“Good. Good.” Elsa said. “Well, at least I know about keeping things tidy; So is there anything I can do to help here?” she asked.

“Hmm. Want to help me sort through some of my stuff?”

“Sure,” she answered, searching for the first thing to tackle. The huge box of dusty looking books perched rather precariously on the chaise lounge looked as good a place as any to start.

“Are these supposed to be in the library?” Elsa asked, getting closer and tilting her head to peer at the titles that were visible.

“Oh! Um. Actually, those are usually under my bed, for a reason,” Anna replied, straightening up. Fate was playing an interesting game with them today, it seemed, considering all the things Elsa could have honed in on.

“Hm. I haven’t read this one,” Elsa said, picking up a relatively thin green book with gold lettering. 

_ Paradise Bound _ she read silently.

“Those are,” Anna let out a short, breathy laugh, “those are my romance novels. The really  _ saucy _ ones. They’re all keepers, so we don’t really have to sort through them if you don’t want to. Unless you want to borrow any?”

“I’m sorry-- Saucy?” Elsa asked, flipping  _ Paradise Bound  _ open.

“Yeah, you know. The titillating kind. Tales of young ladies being swept off their feet and ravished by handsome men.”

Elsa promptly shut the book, embarrassment sweeping over her.

“Ah. What a strangely appropriate way to follow up that last conversation,” she joked, gingerly placing the book back into the box exactly as it was. “It’s safe to assume I haven’t read any of these, then. Books meant to…  _ titillate _ weren't on my radar. Not exactly conducive to repressing emotions.”

Anna tried really hard not to think about the absolutely  _ devastating  _ reality that Elsa had to repress  _ those  _ feelings too. The very idea of trying to repress her own desires for a  _ week _ would drive her mad! In fact, realizing that this was just one more thing on top of so many wrongs done against her sister made her  _ furious _ . Suddenly, she was determined to share her wealth of knowledge.

“Well, prepare to be titillated!” Anna declared, joining Elsa at her side and starting to rifle through the novels.

“These are the best of the best,” she said. “To absolutely no one’s surprise, my favorites used to be the stories about nobility. However, it’s the randy ranch hands and salacious stable boy stories that really hold my attention now.” 

She held up what Elsa suspected was one such example, and the older sister snorted at the way Anna waggled her eyebrows.

“I think I’ll pass on those,” Elsa said.

“Not a fan of the manly, rugged, rough around the edges type?” Anna asked, unsurprised.

“I don’t think so. Though one of them might make a lovely brother-in-law someday.”

“Elsa!” Anna tapped her gently on the arm with the book and Elsa smothered a giggle in her hand. “Well, if you’re not into that, there’s a whole variety here. What sounds better— baker? Chimney sweep? Clergyman?”

“Clergy?” Elsa repeated, clearly puzzled. “Well, that seems rather contradictory. Aren't most men of the cloth supposed to be abstinent?”

“Oh, there are  _ so _ many stories of people who break vows of celibacy for love. Love and very erotic  _ making  _ of said love.”

Elsa scoffed, amused but unimpressed. 

“I’m sorry, that just doesn’t appeal to me.”

“No worries. I’m not a big fan either. Too much religious symbolism draws me out of the mood. Let’s see, what else…”

Anna reached the bottom of one of the stacks and almost moved onto the next before noticing a blue cover decorated with tiny flowers long abandoned beneath the others.  _ The Countess of Avar _ was etched on the front in swirling black font. The edges of Anna’s lips curled up in a similar way to the curve of the text.

“How about a countess?” She asked suggestively.

Anna fought every nerve in her body to not giggle at the way Elsa perked up. The last thing she wanted to do was have Elsa think she was laughing at her! It was just so exciting to see her face finally light up with interest.

“Ah. What was that?” Elsa asked.

“A countess,” Anna answered patiently. “She’s this total sexy, amazing badass who gets involved in a torrid affair with a young debutante and— well, I won’t spoil the ending for you, if you want to read it, but it’s really good.”

“Um.” Elsa tried to seem aloof. “Well, I mean, if the ending is really good, then, you know, I can give it a try. Just to see what it’s like.”

Anna bit her tongue, happily handing it over.

“It’s actually part of a series,” she explained, hurriedly searching for another. “Most of them revolve around her husband, the Count, but he’s not in that one. So, if you want some background— ah! Here,” she presented Elsa a yellow book this time:  _ The Count of Avar _ .

“So, this book,” Elsa said, holding up  _ The Countess _ , “has, um, love scenes between two women?”

“Yep!”

“And you… enjoyed it?” Elsa asked, an eyebrow raised not in judgement but pure curiosity.

“Oh,” Anna finally let herself laugh, now that the conversation was aimed at her own preferences. “It’s well written, but it’s not really my thing. I am, of course, very supportive of the countess’s lifestyle.  _ Very _ .” She emphasized the point, enough so that Elsa quickly took the yellow book as well, as if she didn’t want to show a preference.

“So, how did you get these in the first place?” She asked.

“Papa’s book club,” Anna said, as if it were obvious.

“Papa had a book club?”

“You didn’t know?” She gaped. “Every third Thursday he would go out with his rich buddies to the readings. They would sit around together, drink and smoke, and listen to someone read aloud from these.”

“Papa?”

Anna snorted.

“Yes, Elsa. Papa. While we were cooped up in here, he was going out and having a grand old time,” she said, bitterness creeping into her tone. Elsa glanced down at the books and furrowed her brow. It was difficult to imagine a man as dignified and stern as her father relaxing with friends and listening to explicit literature. She couldn’t picture herself doing the same— she’d be absolutely mortified!

“But anyway,” Anna continued, “when he was done with them, Papa would pass these along to Øystein in the kitchen, and I would bribe Øystein to give them to me.”

“The cook?”

“Yes, the cook. I  _ tried _ to get one directly from Papa once and ooooh boy was that a mistake.” She adopted a kingly stance and a slightly deeper voice in a mocking tone as she said, “ _ ‘A young lady of good standing shouldn’t be exposed to such filth. It rots the mind’ _ .” She scoffed, clearly disgusted with the sentiment. “You know what else rots the mind? Keeping young ladies of good standing locked up behind doors their whole life.”

Elsa squirmed. She’d thought talking about sex was uncomfortable, but that was mostly from her complete lack of understanding of it. Talking about their father’s parenting decisions? That was vastly more disconcerting. And a subject she was far too familiar with.

“I’m sorry,” Elsa murmured. 

Suddenly, Anna’s anger sank like a rock in her gut as guilt flooded in.

“Elsa, no, no,” she said, putting her arms around her and hugging her tight without hesitation. “Remember what we talked about: it is  _ not _ your fault. I’m not mad at you, I promise. So you have absolutely nothing to apologize for.”

Elsa could disagree, but she knew Anna would have none of it.

“I just wish he’d handled things differently, okay?” Anna said, pulling back and squeezing Elsa’s arms. “I know you don’t like when I say things like that about him, but, Elsa, he hurt you, whether he meant to or not. I mean, for Chrissakes, you’re twenty two years old and just now allowing yourself to  _ think _ about romance. And whether you want to be in love one day or spend the rest of your life single doesn’t matter-- you should have been able to express yourself and start to figure it out long before now!”

“Thank you, Anna,” Elsa said, voice a little strained. “You’re right that… I wish I had been able to figure some things out before now. And not just the…” she lifted the books shyly, “this stuff. Lots of things. There’s so much I still need to discover. But I know I’m not alone anymore.”

“You won’t ever have to be alone again, Elsa. I promise.”

Elsa ducked her head, biting back the tears threatening to well up in her eyes.

“Hey,” Anna said, tilting Elsa’s chin up. “Forget about the cleaning. I’m pretty sure there’s some incredible raspberry pastries in the kitchen with our names on them. Let’s go grab them, bring them to your room, and play that new board game instead. How’s that sound?”

Elsa smiled.

“I’d like that a lot.”


End file.
